SOLEDAD: IN A RARE SHOW OF BIPARTISAN SUPPORT, THE HOUSE UNANIMOUSLY PASSED NEW LEGISLATION THIS MONTH TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT THE HEALTH DANGERS FROM MILITARY BURN PITS. THOSE ARE MASSIVE OPEN-AIR DISPOSAL SITES IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN WHERE GARBAGE WAS DOUSED IN FUEL AND BURNED, CREATING CLOUDS OF TOXIC FUMES. THE DEBRIS INCLUDED EVERYTHING FROM COMPUTER PARTS TO INSECTICIDE. THOUSANDS OF VETERANS SAY THEIR EXPOSURE TO BURN PITS LEFT THEM WITH RESPIRATORY ILLNESSES AND CANCER. THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SAYS THERE IS NOT ENOUGH SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE TO LINK BURN PITS TO LONG-TERM ILLNESS BUT ADMIT THE SMOKE CAN CAUSE SHORT-TERM HEALTH PROBLEMS. THE NEW LEGISLATION, CALLED THE BURN PIT REGISTRY ENHANCEMENT BILL, WOULD ALLOW FAMILY MEMBERS TO REPORT A VETERAN’S DEATH IF THERE’S A POSSIBLE CONNECTION TO BURN PIT EXPOSURE. BONNIE CARROLL SERVED 31 YEARS IN THE MILITARY. SHE IS A PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM WINNER AND THE FOUNDER OF TAPS, THE TRAGEDY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR SURVIVORS WHIC SUPPORTS PEOPLE DEALING WITH THE DEATH OF A MILITARY FAMILY MEMBER. AND COLEEN BOWMAN’S HUSBAND ROB DIED AFTER AN 18-MONTH BATTL WITH CANCER. HE HAD BEEN EXPOSED TO BURN PITS WHILE DEPLOYED IN IRAQ IT IS NICE TO HAVE YOU BOTH WITH US. COLEEN, I’M GOING TO START WITH YOU. EXPLAIN TO US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE BURN PITS. HOW CLOSE WERE THEY TO THE SERVICE MEMBERS? COLEEN: SO FOR ROB, HIS BURN PIT WAS LESS THAN A HALF A MILE FROM WHERE THEY SLEPT AT NIGHT, THE SLEEPING QUARTERS. THEY WERE ALL IN DIFFERENT PLACES. SOME WERE SMALL, AND SOME WERE BIG. SOLEDAD: AND BURNING CONSTANTLY? COLEEN: BURNING CONSTANTLY. SOLEDAD: INTERESTING. AND SO WHEN HE WAS DIAGNOSED, I UNDERSTAND THAT THE DOCTORS TOLD ROB THAT THEY WERE STUNNED. I MEAN, THIS WAS A REALLY, REALLY RARE FORM OF CANCER, RIGHT? COLEEN: THIS WAS. AND THEY -- HIS DOCTOR WAS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW RIGHT AWAY THAT THIS WAS NOT GENETICS. THIS WAS CAUSED FROM THE ENVIRONMENT. AND THEY RAN A TEST TO TRY T IDENTIFY THE GENE THAT CAUSED IT. AND IT WAS NOT THERE. IT WAS A MUTATION. SOLEDAD: WHICH IS ESSENTIAL, OF COURSE, IN THIS WHOLE DEBATE ABOUT WHAT CAUSED HIS CANCER. COLEEN: RIGHT. HE WENT FOR A SECOND OPINION DOWN AT M.D. ANDERSON IN HOUSTON AND WE WENT THROUGH GENETIC COUNSELING, AND THEY CAME UP WITH THE SAME. THEY SAID THIS WAS NOT GENETICS. THIS WAS ENVIRONMENTAL. SOLEDAD: BONNIE, THIS HAS BEEN CALLED THE AGENT ORANGE OF OUR GENERATION, WHICH IS TERRIBLE BECAUSE IT TOOK 50 YEARS BEFORE PEOPLE REALLY BEGAN TO TAKE ORANGE BONNIE: YES, IT HAS. AND WE’RE SEEING SUCH A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF FAMILIES COMING TO US. TAPS IS THERE FOR ALL THOSE GRIEVING THE DEATH OF MILITA LOVED ONE, INCLUDING THOSE WHO ARE OUT OF THE MILITARY WHO ARE RECENT VETERANS WHO ARE IN THE GUARD AND RESERVE AND NOT ON A DUTY STATUS. SO, WE’RE SEEING EVEN A LARGER POPULATION AND FAMILIES WHO MAY NOT BE CONNECTING THE CANCER DEATH OF THEIR LOVED ONE WITH THEIR MILITARY SERVICE. SOLEDAD: HOW MANY SERVIC MEMBERS ARE THEY GUESSING ARE DEALING WITH THIS ISSU BONNIE: WELL, ACCORDING TO THE V.A., 3.5 MILLION SERVICE MEMBERS HAVE BEEN EXPOSED, POTENTIALLY EXPOSED, TO BURN PITS. AT TAPS, WE'RE PROJECTING IN THE YEAR 2020 THAT OUR INTAKE LOSS WILL SURPASS SUICIDE BY 2020. SOLEDAD: SO YOU THINK BY NEXT YEAR, THERE’LL BE MORE VETERANS' DEATHS BY ILLNESS THAN BY SUICIDE, WHICH IS A SHOCKING NUMBER ALREADY. SO THERE’S THIS REGISTRY NOW, WHICH I GUESS IS A FIRST STEP, BUT FEELS TO ME LIKE A SMALL STEP. HOW DOES THE REGISTRY WORK COLEEN: SO, IT STARTED IN 2014 SINCE 2014, I THINK APRIL WAS THE MONTH UNTIL NOW, 170,0 HAVE REGISTERED. SO IT’S -- YOU CANNOT REGISTER DECEASED SERVICE MEMBERS, SO I CAN’T GO ON AND REGISTER ROB. THEY GO AND THEY ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. WERE YOU NEAR BURN PITS? WERE YOU EXPOSED TO BURN PITS? IT’S ABOUT A 40-MINUTE SURV THAT THEY DO AND THE INFORMATION IS WITH THE V.A. SOLEDAD: THE V.A. HAS SAID THAT THERE’S NO EVIDENCE THAT THESE BURN PITS CAUSE ANY KIND OF LONG-TERM RISK OR LONG-TER HEALTH PROBLEMS, WHICH IS SORT OF WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT AGENT ORANGE, TOO. HOW CONCERNED ARE YOU WITH A STATEMENT LIKE THAT FROM THE V.A.? BONNIE: WELL, WE ARE WORKING WITH THE V.A. VERY CLOSELY NOW, AND IT IS BECOMING A PRIORITY. WE’RE LOOKING AT THE WORK THAT’S BEING DONE IN NEW YORK WITH THE FIRST RESPONDERS AFTER 9/11 AN ALSO THE FIREFIGHTERS AND INHALATION. SOLEDAD: THOSE ARE BOTH EXAMPL PEOPLE WHO’VE BEEN LEFT BEHIND. FAR TOO LATE BEFORE PEOPLE SAID, WELL, THIS IS A PRIORITY. AND WE’VE SEEN ALREADY A LARGE NUMBER OF DISABILITY CLAIMS REJECTED WHEN PEOPLE WOULD APPLY FOR DISABILITY AROUND THE BURN PIT ISSUE. COLEEN: WHEN I THINK BACK TO WHEN ROB WAS DIAGNOSED IN 2011, NOBODY WAS TALKING ABOUT IT. IT WAS LIKE THEY HAD THE DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS LOOK YOU KNOW. AND NOW HERE WE ARE IN 2019, AND WE’RE TALKING ABOUT IT NOW. SOLEDAD: WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF THIS? WHERE DOES THIS GO BONNIE: WE’RE VERY, VERY GRATEFUL FOR ACTING DEFENSE SECRETARY PATRICK SHANAHAN WHO IS LOOKING AT REALLY STATE-OF-THE-ART INCINERATORS THAT WILL TAKE CARE OF THE PROBLEM GOING FORWARD. SOLEDAD: DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE BECOME A VOICE FOR A VERY CHALLENGING ISSUE? COLEEN: I DO. BEFORE ROB DIED, YOU KNOW, THE SILVER LINING IN HAVING THE 18 MONTHS BEFORE HE DIED WA CONVERSATIONS AND THE EXPECTATIONS HE HAD OF ME AND TO SHARE HIS STORY TO MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE HEARD HIS STORY AND THE VOICES OF THE SOLDIERS THAT ARE FOLLOWING BEHIND HIM. SOLEDAD: YOU GUYS TALKED ABOUT. COLEEN: WE DID. HE SAID, "IF THIS IS HOW GOD IS GOING TO TAKE ME, I WANT TO BE THE PIONEER OF THIS.” IT WAS, IN MY OPINION, IT WA HIS LAST GIFT OF LEADERSHIP THAT HE GAVE HIS

In a rare show of bipartisanship, the House unanimously passed new legislation this month to raise awareness about the health dangers of military burn pits.Thousands of veterans who worked on those massive open-air disposal sites, where garbage was disposed of and burned with fuel, in Iraq and Afghanistan say they have respiratory illnesses and cancer.The debris included everything from computer parts to insecticides.But the Department of Defense says there is not enough scientific evidence to link long-term illness to the burn pits.Officials admit smoke from burn pits could have short-term health problems.The Burn Pit Registry Enhancement Act would allow family members to access the registry to add cause of death and to also note if the death could be linked to exposure to burn pits.Currently, only living veterans and active service members can register.In her latest edition of "Matter of Fact," Soledad O’Brien talked with with Bonnie Carroll, founder of Tragedy Assistance Program For Survivors, and Coleen Bowman, whose husband died of cancer after being exposed to burn pits.Bowman said a burn pit was located about a half-mile from where her husband Rob and his fellow soldiers slept at night.Multiple pits were located elsewhere nearby.“Burning constantly,” she said.The burn pits were used through 2010 at military bases, according to Stars and Stripes, an independent newspaper covering the military.Her husband was diagnosed in 2011 with a rare form of cancer. He died 18 months later.“His doctor was smart enough to know right away that this was not genetics,” Bowman said. “This was caused by the environment.”Other tests on her husband also confirmed environmental changes caused the cancer.Carroll said her organization is seeing “such a dramatic increase in the number of families coming to us.”Bowman said there are about 3.5 million service members who might have been affected by the burn pits.By next year, Bowman, who also works with Carroll at TAPS, estimates that the number of service members who die due to effects of the burn pits will surpass the number of service members who commit suicide.More than 170,000 service members are already part of the registry. Families of soldiers who have died are not eligible to register.Bowman said it’s important for her to be the voice for her husband and others who have died.“If this is how God is going to take me, I want to be the pioneer of this,” Bowman recalled her husband saying.“It was the last gift of leadership he gave,” she said.

In a rare show of bipartisanship, the House unanimously passed new legislation this month to raise awareness about the health dangers of military burn pits.

Thousands of veterans who worked on those massive open-air disposal sites, where garbage was disposed of and burned with fuel, in Iraq and Afghanistan say they have respiratory illnesses and cancer.

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The debris included everything from computer parts to insecticides.

But the Department of Defense says there is not enough scientific evidence to link long-term illness to the burn pits.

In her latest edition of "Matter of Fact," Soledad O’Brien talked with with Bonnie Carroll, founder of Tragedy Assistance Program For Survivors, and Coleen Bowman, whose husband died of cancer after being exposed to burn pits.

Bowman said a burn pit was located about a half-mile from where her husband Rob and his fellow soldiers slept at night.

Multiple pits were located elsewhere nearby.

“Burning constantly,” she said.

The burn pits were used through 2010 at military bases, according to Stars and Stripes, an independent newspaper covering the military.

Her husband was diagnosed in 2011 with a rare form of cancer. He died 18 months later.

“His doctor was smart enough to know right away that this was not genetics,” Bowman said. “This was caused by the environment.”

Other tests on her husband also confirmed environmental changes caused the cancer.

Carroll said her organization is seeing “such a dramatic increase in the number of families coming to us.”

Bowman said there are about 3.5 million service members who might have been affected by the burn pits.

By next year, Bowman, who also works with Carroll at TAPS, estimates that the number of service members who die due to effects of the burn pits will surpass the number of service members who commit suicide.

Lawmakers are hoping to raise awareness about the dangers of military burn pits, toxic disposal sites in Afghanistan and Iraq. Why @Bonnie_at_TAPS, founder of @TAPSorg, says the number of service members affected by burn pits will likely increase. pic.twitter.com/0z8pCB0Drt